


cocktails and gin

by taexthetic



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gang World, Italian Mafia, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, love that, mafia, omg italian mafia is a thing??, riprip im still bad at tagging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:00:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25843225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taexthetic/pseuds/taexthetic
Summary: changkyun goes from a simple homeless prostitute to apart of a gang. (the gang part wasn't so much so his own idea)
Relationships: Chae Hyungwon/Im Changkyun | I.M, Lee Jooheon & Lee Minhyuk
Kudos: 19





	cocktails and gin

**Author's Note:**

> please enjoy! comments and kudos are very much appreciated!

The cold air bit at him like an angry dog. He wrapped his sad excuse of a jacket tighter around him in hopes to be shielded from the cold. But it was no use; it felt like his body was freezing from the inside out.

"Hey baby, how much for you right now?" a greasy voice slurred out.

"Nothing from you. _Especially, from creeps like you._ " he replied. He barely looked towards the old man, but he already knew the type of guy- kinda short, face not shaved in days, shirt untucked, and the beginnings of a beer belly starting to show.

"What did you just say to me?" the greasy voice was suddenly right behind his ear. He turned around and tried to defend himself from _whatever_ was going to come at him, but he was too slow. A hand grabbed him by the throat and pushed him against the nearby alley wall. He tried to claw at the man's hand, arm, face, anything, the back of his mind knowing it was futile. He saw the man's other hand start to creep into the waistband of his shorts. The boy began to thrash around in hope to stop him; the old man gripped his shorts as his vision started to go black.

He prayed this wasn't how he was going to die. The last thing he saw was the man's awful face ( he tried to memorize every nasty detail of it) and a shadowy figure behind him. But he couldn't do anything as his world soon turned black.

He woke up on something too soft to be an alley floor. Maybe he really _did_ die back there. Wait, did the alley smell like chicken? He quickly shot up almost instantly regretted it. His world was spinning, or maybe it was just him that was spinning.

"Careful now, you don't wanna hurt yourself." a voice warned through the blur of colors in his vision. He yelped as he dove under the covers, hoping the thick comforter would protect him, like a child does during a thunderstorm.

"You don't need to worry, I'm not going to hurt you." the voice was a boy's voice. And by the sound of it, the mysterious boy (with the motherly voice) was not much older than himself.

"Promise?" he weakly spoke, peeking his head out, as if a simple 'promise' will ensure his safety. 

"I promise." the boy chuckled, voice soft. "What's your name?"

"C-Changkyun." he replied, sitting up, blanket pooling in his lap. That drew his attention to his clothes, once old ripped up ones were replaced with a soft purple sweater and warm black sweatpants. His voice was hoarse and felt like there was a lump caught in his throat. "Who are you?"

"My name's Kihyun." the boy's eyes crinkled as he smiled. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

With the mentioning of that, Changkyun's body began to light up with pain; his head was now pounding _and_ dizzy, his throat was drier than a desert, and his arm was tight. Wait, why were there bandages wrapped all along his forearm? Not trusting his voice to speak, he nodded his head and pointed at the places that hurt.

"Oh, you're throat must hurt. That man must have had a stronger grip than expected." And with that, Kihyun walked out of the room. This gave Changkyun the chance to look around. He was sitting in a small bed, black sheets being a good contrast to white pillows. The walls were a boring beige, and there seemed to be a small, well-loved book case overflowing with more well-loved books. To the right of him was the chair Kihyun was sitting on and a small night table. A little lamp, that made the room a dim orange, was nestled in the corner of it and his stuff was scattered along the remaining space.

_His things._

Without a second thought, he grabbed his things and put them back on him; a necklace (men seemed to love that on him and it also doubled as a key to his little safe, where he kept all of his clothes buried in the ugly sight of the streets), his pepper spray (it was empty but it scared off the ones who were annoying and he was too broke to afford a new one), and his ring, his beloved ring. It was a gift from his older brother, the only person he could call family anymore. It was a simple silver band, with a small flying arrow etched on the inside of it. His brother had a matching one too, inside etched with a small bow. He twirled it around his left middle finger, a habit he picked up to comfort him on the lonely nights. Kihyun walked back into the room, handing him a tall glass of water.

Without a second thought, Changkyun grabbed and downed the entire glass. "Why is my arm wrapped up?" he asked.

"The guy attacked you must have had sharp fingernails, because when you walked in- well _carried in_ \- your arm was bleeding pretty badly." Kihyun responded. When he saw Changkyun's confused face, he continued. "But I used to be a nurse so I was able to clean you up. Your arm is going to be wrapped up like that for about a week or so."

"Wait, so it wasn't you who saved me?" Changkyun asked. "W-Who was it then?" Kihyun opened his mouth but a few voices from outside interrupted him.

_"He thinks Kihyun saved him? Our poor weak Kihyunnie? That's funny."_

_"Hey shut up hyung! He might hear us!"_

Kihyun quietly walked to the door and quickly pulled it open, and two _more_ boys fell on the floor with a loud THUMP.

"You're damn right I can hear you. Why do you love shit talking your other members?" Kihyun said, looking down to the boy with platinum blonde hair.

"Why do you love shit talking your other members, _hyung"_ the blonde boy corrected. Kihyun didn't respond, he simply placed the front of his shoe against the boy's ribs.

"Do you forget I was a nurse before I met you, _hyung_? I can kill you in at least 10 ways from right here." Kihyun threatened, even though his tone of voice had no bite to it.

"You love me too much to do that, Kihyunnie" he replied, smiling.

"Um, who are you guys?" Changkyun spoke from the bed, watching this whole oddly domestic moment unfold. The two boys quickly realized they were on the floor and very clumsily stood up. Both of them stared at Changkyun for a few seconds before speaking.

"Wow, you are really pretty. Jeez uhh, hello I'm Minhyuk" the platinum boy smiled. Changkyun blushed at the compliment. Yes he earned most of his money on the streets from random guys, but he never got complimented. Let alone get called _pretty_.

"I'm sorry, please excuse my boyfriend. He gets weird around pretty people. But I might say, he is definitely right about the pretty part." the other boy, with an undercut and slit eyes, spoke. "I'm Jooheon."

_Boyfriend? There's gay people in this part of town too?_

"Uh yes there is. Actually, I'm pretty sure everyone here is gay." Kihyun said, suddenly getting defensive. "Is there a problem with that?"

"Oh god did I say that out loud?" Changkyun realized. "I promise you, I didn't mean anything mean by that."

The three men standing started to look uncomfortable, as if they were in a room with someone who hated them.

"D-Do you guys really not know what I do? Or what I am?" Changkyun asked. He assumed they thought he was this homophobic piece of shit when in reality it was the complete opposite. Minhyuk looked like a puppy; imaginary dog ears perking with question.

"I'm uhh gay... I'm also a prostitute?" he cursed himself for making it sound like a question. He turned to Kihyun. "So none of you guys are the person who s-saved me?"

Kihyun nodded his head in agreement, mind seeming to be running at 50 miles per hour. "Changkyun I-"

"Why do you think whoever had to save me had to do that? Not to say too much but, my parents threw me out when I was 16 and I've had to find... creative ways to survive." Changkyun explained, trying to leave out as many details as possible. He wasn't one for oversharing with strangers.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you. You don't deserve that." Minhyuk said, moving closer to Changkyun. The boy on the bed flinched involuntarily, last night's (how long has it been since that night?) incident must have messed up his anxiety _even more_ than before.

"Hey baby, come back over here. You didn't do anything wrong, he just still might be a little shaken up." Jooheon said, guiding Minhyuk back to his side and intertwining their fingers.

"I-I'm sorry.. What a great first impression huh?" Minhyuk sheepishly said, rubbing the back of his neck as if he could relieve his awkwardness.

"Don't worry, please, it's just the kind of person I am. My... lifestyle might make you think otherwise, but I promise you I'm filled with _constant_ anxiety." Changkyun blushed. "I guess I'm still a bit messed up from last night"

"Last night?" Kihyun interjected. "I don't know how to tell you this but, we found you almost a week ago."

"WHAT?" Changkyun's sudden outburst startled everyone in the room, even Changkyun himself. "You mean I've been asleep for almost a w-week? How is that possible?"

"You were pretty beat up when I got a hold of you, Changkyun. You seemed to have a concussion, a pretty messed up arm, and some nasty bruises all over your body." Kihyun said, going into nurse mode. "Are you sure you aren't hurting anywhere else?"

"Well, my stomach hurts. But I think that's because I haven't eaten in a few days." Changkyun sheepishly smiled, rubbing his stomach. Kihyun motioned for Changkyun to follow him, but the still recovering boy's legs wobbled and gave out on him.

"Woah there, be careful. Wouldn't wanna hurt that pretty little face of yours." Minhyuk cheesily flirted as he wrapped his arms around his waist to support him. If Minhyuk was anybody else, he wouldn't have been flustered. Usually, he just felt disgusted, but this time he felt like that was sincere and endear.

"You know, Jooheon is gonna leave you one of these days if you keep flirting with cute boys." Kihyun tried to threaten.

"Don't worry, I might love him a bit too much to do that." Jooheon smiled. Changkyun heard a breathy "Yeah he does." from Minhyuk. He smiled at the obvious love between the boys.

//

At first glance, Shownu reminded Changkyun of a teddy bear; a big, soft, not very intimidating. But the gun holstered on his waist made the back of Changkyun's hair stand up. Who are these people?

Wonho was the same way. He was like a bunny, soft smile and warm voice made Changkyun feel safe. But all of the sheer amount of muscles wrapped in a white turtleneck made him feel like a noodle.

_Who are these people? A nurse? A bodybuilder? A gun? Who actually saved me?_ Changkyun thought as he finished the last of his chicken soup. While serving Changkyun, Kihyun mentioned that he liked cooking for everyone because he "didn't like to do the work" with the other guys.

"What do you guys even do?" Changkyun finally voiced his opinion. "I mean, _what_ are you guys?"

"Well, we are a... different kind of group of friends." Wonho said, somehow giving Changkyun somehow even more questions than he had before. "Our leader will explain more in a bit."

_Leader??_

They had now moved to the living room; a small but cozy room that had two small couches, a love seat, and a decently sized tv atop a dark brown coffee table. All of the men in the room sat down, as if in their nature. Changkyun felt like an intruder; unsure of where to sit. He decided to sit at the end of one of the couches, he brought his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them in hopes to make himself as small as possible. Next to him sat Minhyuk, who had his legs entangled with Jooheon as they held hands and whispered to each other as if in their own world.

Changkyun was curious about them. He wondered how met, and what they exactly has kept them so close for... however long they've been together.

"If you guys can't tell me _what_ you guys are, can you at least tell me your age? You all seem young to be in... whatever this is" Changkyun voiced his opinion.

"I'm 23" Wonho was the first to speak.

"And I'm 24 years old." Shownu spoke.

"Our lovely Kihyun and I are both 22" Minhyuk said, slightly turning towards Changkyun. Jooheon turned to him as he spoke. an ' _i can answer him myself hyung'_ came from kihyun.

"I just turned 21 yesterday." jooheon said.

"well, happy belated birthday, hyung" changkyun replied, first genuine smile appearing on his face.

"im your... hyung?" jooheon asked, eyes slightly widening. out of the corner of changkyun's eye, he saw minhyuk look at the boy with hopeful eyes.

"yes, you are. I turned 19 in january. d-do you not want me to call you hyung?" changkyun said, quickly thinking he did something wrong.

"no not at all!" jooheon quickly said. "ive just... never been a hyung to someone. i'm usually the youngest"

changkyun could see (or rather _hear_ ) how small jooheon sounded.

"well, now you do!" changkyun smiled, hoping to make the older boy feel better. and it seemed to do it's just; jooheon showed a small smile, adoration locked in his eyes. "if it makes you feel better, or actually _all of you_ feel better, i've never had this many hyungs before"

"do you have any siblings, changkyun-ah?" kihyun asked. all of the boys in the room liked the way the youngest boy's name sounded.

"I have an older brother! his name is taeil and he's pretty much the last person I can call family." changkyun said sheepishly, happy to boast about his brother at any given opportunity.

"well now you can call us your family too..." a new voice said from the doorway, making changkyun flinch. "... only if you like of course."

changkyun looked up to see one of the most beautiful people he's ever met ( _totally_ objectively speaking, of course). he was tall; with black hair swept back. but it must have been a long day because some of his hair was falling out of place and over his forehead, he wore a white button up shirt messily tucked into a pair of black slacks.

"i... uhhh.. huh?" changkyun said, completely dizzy from the other man's looks. the man let out a weak laugh as he ran his hand through his hair. changkyun's eyes follow the hand as it untangled his messy curly black hair. the other man grabbed a chair from the slightly worn down kitchen table and brought it close to where everyone else was sitting. the man sat backwards, drawing changkyun's eyes to the man's thighs stretched around the back of the chair.

"you've seemed to stumble upon us in an... unfortunate way, " he said, wringing his hands together. "how are you feeling by the way? you've been in the care of my favorite nurse for a while"

"aren't i the only nurse you know, hyungwon-ah?" kihyun's sassy voice interrupted.

"take it as a compliment before i take it back, kihyun-ah" hyungwon replied, voice dropping a bit in a sign of power. kihyun seemed to shrink a bit, and he mumbled a small 'thanks' through a shy smile.

"he uhh, he's taken really good care of me." changkyun said, causing kihyun to look up with a bigger smile on his face. "and he cooks really good too. i haven't had a home cooked meal in years"

"well, do you have any family around here? you probably won't be able to go back there for a long time" the man -hyungwon, he supposed- slightly winced. ' _were they really just being good people and saving me without knowing who i am?'_ changkyun thought, shifting to see the mysterious man better.

"oh no, you don't need to worry about that" changkyun softly reassured. "i live behind the convenient store next to the movie theater"

"that's those new apartments there right? i heard the rent there is not that bad" minhyuk spoke up. "well not exactly..." changkyun winced. "... i mean like _actually_ behind the store. like in the small bridge area a few feet away? yeah i live there"

everyone's eyes widened as their jaws dropped. changkyun could _hear_ the gears turning in their heads.

"damn, i always say the wrong things huh? today is not my day" minhyuk pouted, hanging his head. jooheon gave minhyuk's hand a reassuring squeeze.

"so you're h-homeless" wonho spoke after a few moments of silence.

"sadly, i am. i've been homeless since my parents kicked me out when i was 16" changkyun replied. "but don't worry about hurting my feelings! i'm really okay with it, i promise"

and changkyun really meant that. living on the streets has taught him so much more than living in that house could ever. his parents weren't nice people _at all._ their arrogant and disgustingly rude personalities were not likable at all. to this day, he doesn't know how his brother put up with his parents for so long.

not only were they horribly rude, they were also horribly homophobic. the beatings started after changkyun came out to them, by accident of course. one too many arguments made changkyun exhausted; and before he realized it, his sexuality had rendered his parents stunned. everyday since then, he became his parents punching bag.

the only _nice treatment_ he got in his family was from his brother, taeil. the sweetest person changkyun has ever met. even though he was four years older, they were around the same height and were often called fraternal twins. It made changkyun beam with joy; he idolized his brother and loved him to bits. 

taeil was the same; dotting on his brother in loving ways and doing everything he could for his sweet baby brother. his heart shattered into a million pieces when his innocent little brother crawled into his bed with tears down his chubby cheeks. that night, changkyun confessed all the horrible things his parents did to him while taeil was away at work or college. taeil went to a college an hour away from their family home, so he was able to come home on some long weekends and holidays. 

then one night, taeil opened the door of his (cheap) college dorm to see changkyun; left eye bruised shut and cut down the side of his cheek. a bookbag was being cradled in changkyun’s shaky arms. the boy let out a blood curdling sob before quickly being pulled into the room by taeil. he took care of changkyun that night, nursing his injuries and giving him some food. but by the morning, changkyun was gone; not even the slightest trace of him being there.   
  
  
  


“i left my brother a note saying i was thankful for everything that he had done for me. but i knew i couldn’t be a burden to him like that.” changkyun sadly smiled as he told his life story to six strangers, twirling his ring around his finger. “i wear this ring everyday to remind myself that no matter how many people belittle me and call me horrible names, there is someone who still loves me”

“i am deeply sorry that’s happened to you, changkyun-ah” hyungwon said, deep brown eyes staring into changkyun’s soul. “well, from now on, you will always have someone in your corner. seven someone’s to be exact.”

“we have a room ready for you if you’re okay with staying by yourself.” wonho spoke up. he had a small smile etched on his face, and it put changkyun at ease a bit. “but if you would rather share a room with someone, i’m pretty sure any of us would be okay with that”

“w-would it be okay if i stayed by myself?” changkyun asked, sudden wave of anxiety at the thought of sharing a room with relative strangers made him stutter. 

“of course changkyun-ah, it’s no problem at all” jooheon replied, speaking for everyone in the room. they all nodded in agreement.

“minhyuk will show you to your room then” hyungwon ordered, causing minhyuk’s body to straighten in jooheon’s hold. “someone will come get you when dinner is ready”

“ah ok...can i ask one question though?” changkyun said, anxiety making his hands shake. hyungwon nodded, brown eyes making the younger feel naked.

“you guys aren’t going to kill me in my sleep or anything right? because that would be a pretty shitty way to die, y’know? i would much rather be killed while awake. and if you do plan on killing me, can you have kihyun hyung poison my food or something. getting shot or stabbed is no fun, not to mention _messy_ an-”

“CHANGKYUN-AH” hyungwon interrupted, loud voice breaking changkyun out of his small rant. his eyes quickly widened and looked around the room; most of the boys had confused looks (jooheon’s eyes even looked a bit scared), but hyungwon’s looked different. was that a look of admiration?

“you don’t need to worry your pretty little head, lim changkyun.” hyungwon spoke, sly smile causing heat to rush to changkyun’s cheeks. “with us? you will forever be safe”


End file.
